Salma Hayek has a lot to celebrate, including a career that just keeps getting better

Salma Hayek is living her best life these days. From sharing #vacationenvy-worthy videos on Instagram to becoming our new fitness inspo with her stunning bikini photos, Hayek has a lot to celebrate. Just as the actress turns 52, her fabulous figure and her career are on fire.

At the age of 23, she landed her first role, on the Mexican telenovela Teresa. Two years later, she packed her bags and headed to Hollywood to pursue her big-screen dreams. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Hayek said, people “thought I was crazy in Mexico when I said, ‘I’m going to Hollywood.’ Nobody thought I could make it.”

Her big break came in 1995 when she joined Antonio Banderas in the Robert Rodriguez film Desperado. Soon after, movies like Fools Rush In gave her leading lady, “bombshell” status, but, for Hayek, being a sex symbol wasn’t the ultimate goal: “It’s good to be sexy, but when that’s all they can see — no.”

She decided to use her superstar status to launch her own production company, telling Winfrey, “I’m going to create projects for me. I’m going to create projects for other Latin women,” and the hits soon followed. In 2007, she produced the TV series Ugly Betty, starring America Ferrera. Her next passion project was the movie Frida, a story about Mexican artist and icon Frida Kahlo.

The 2002 film, which Hayek admits was a difficult project to undertake, received tons of industry praise and made history when Hayek was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role — a first for a Mexican-born actress — all hail Hayek!

In a shocking December 2017 op-ed piece for the New York Times, the actress bravely came forward to accuse movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her during the production of Frida. She claimed Weinstein threatened to kill her when she rebuffed his sexual advances. It quickly became one of the New York Times’ most-read stories of the year. “Many people said they were moved by it,” Hayek told the Wrap.

The stunning star and her husband — François-Henri Pinault, whom she married in 2009 — recently renewed their vows in a surprise beach ceremony on the shores of exotic Bora Bora. She posted the sweet moment on instagram: “It was not what I would have chosen to wear to my wedding but I was told I was going to the spa!”